Judge Orders Tennessee to Accept Work Permits for Driver’s Licenses Again, Hearing Set Nov. 16

• A Nashville chancellor has ordered the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to accept federal work permits again when it issues or renews temporary driver’s licenses.
• The order is temporary, and a hearing on Nov. 16 is the next court date in the case.
• Hundreds of Tennessee residents were turned away in recent weeks, and the lawsuit says thousands more face losing the right to drive to work.

Who Was Turned Away at the License Counter and What Changes Now

Chancellor Russell Perkins of Davidson County Chancery Court signed a temporary restraining order on Monday, Nov. 2. It stops the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security from refusing temporary driver’s licenses and renewals to applicants who hold a federal employment authorization card, commonly called a work permit. Perkins set the first hearing in the case for Nov. 16.

For clerks, the order changes the document check. The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, which brought the case, says the Department cannot require a visa or an I-94 record from an applicant. The Department has to go back to the practice it followed for years and accept work permits and other federal documents as proof that the federal government has authorized the person to be in the country. The coalition said the order takes effect once a bond is posted. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, a coalition advocate said that would happen soon, and no report yet confirms it.

The people affected include recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, which protects people brought to the country as children from deportation, and asylum seekers. For many of them the work permit is the only federal document they hold. Immigrants without permanent legal status can only get a temporary license in Tennessee, so the document check at the counter decides whether they can drive at all.

What the Department Changed and When

For close to two decades, Tennessee driver’s license offices accepted the employment authorization card as enough proof to issue a license to an immigrant resident. In recent weeks, the Department stopped. The coalition says the Department now issues licenses only to certain non-citizens who present a valid visa, an I-94, an I-94W or a temporary green card.

The new requirement traces to a 2025 omnibus immigration law that created a state division to coordinate immigration enforcement between federal and state agencies. That law has been fully in effect from Jan. 1. The Department announced the document change on Sept. 9 in a Facebook video from Tiffanie Morgan, director of its Driver Services division, who said employment authorization cards, also known as EADs or work permits, can no longer be used as proof of lawful presence in the country or in Tennessee when applying for a temporary credential. Work permits go to DACA recipients, certain asylum applicants, people in the final stage of permanent residence and people with temporary protected status, so the change reaches well beyond one group. Many applicants learned of it only after they reached a Driver Services Center, the coalition says.

The consequences reached people at work. L.R., a nurse and DACA recipient in East Tennessee, travels about an hour to a rural hospital and cannot find a ride or afford a ride-hailing service. “We are already experiencing a nursing shortage,” L.R. told reporters at a Friday news conference. Ale Z., a therapist for children with disabilities, lost her job after the state rejected her license renewal, and she now has no means to take her son to medical appointments. Both gave only initials or a partial name, as did the six plaintiffs, to protect their identities.

The Legal Dispute Over Which Documents Count

The Department’s position rests on state law. A spokesperson said last week that the Tennessee statute for temporary licenses requires documentation establishing a specific period of lawful status in the United States, and that an employment authorization card does not do that. The law was first enacted nearly 20 years ago and lawmakers revised it in 2025. Neither version lists which documents are acceptable.

That silence is the center of the case. The Department reads the statute to exclude the work permit. The coalition says the Department must follow its regulations and its practice of many years, and accept work permits and other federal documents as proof of federally authorized presence.

The lawsuit makes two claims. It says the Department exceeded its authority and violated state law, and it says the Department changed its rules abruptly without public notice. The suit alleges the Department skipped the public comment period and the 90 days that Tennessee code requires between announcing a change and putting it into effect. The plaintiffs are the coalition and six immigrants with valid work permits, represented with the National Immigration Law Center and the law firm Bass, Berry & Sims.

In the order, Perkins wrote that several factors supported a restraining order, among them the threat of irreparable harm and the public interest. Department spokesperson Jason Pack, asked about the suit, said: “Longstanding policy prohibits the department from publicly discussing pending litigation outside of court filings or hearings.”

What Drivers Should Do Before the Nov. 16 Hearing

A temporary restraining order holds a policy in place for a short period so a judge can hear both sides. It does not decide who wins the lawsuit. The Nov. 16 hearing is the next court date in the case, and the court decides there how the dispute proceeds. Anyone holding a work permit should plan around that date.

Applicants and renewal filers can take a few practical steps:

Bring the work permit and any other federal document you hold, including an I-94 record, a visa or a temporary green card. The order covers the work permit, and the extra papers show the clerk everything the federal government has issued to you.

Ask the clerk which documents the office is accepting after the order, and ask for the answer in writing if the office refuses your application. The order takes effect only once the bond is posted, so the answer can differ from one day to the next.

Keep any denial paperwork, the date and the name of the office. If you were refused in the past few weeks, the record shows when and where it happened, and the coalition that filed the suit asks people who could not renew a license to report what happened by calling its resource line at 615-414-1030.

Check the expiration date on your current license and on your work permit now. A renewal that falls close to Nov. 16 depends on how the hearing goes, so file early and keep the receipt.

The order comes from a state court and does not change federal immigration law or federal identification standards such as the REAL ID rules that govern boarding a domestic flight.

What Happens Next

Three dates mark the weeks ahead. The suit was filed on Friday, Oct. 30, the order was signed on Monday, Nov. 2, and the hearing is on Nov. 16. Between the order and the hearing, the Department is bound to accept the work permit once the bond is posted. What happens after the hearing is the court’s decision, and it sets which documents clerks accept while the case continues.

Another Tennessee case offers a reference point. In June, a judge temporarily blocked a separate state law that required beneficiaries of public programs to prove their immigration status, after a group of doctors sued on behalf of their patients. Gov. Bill Lee, who called the special session that produced the 2025 immigration law, told reporters on Wednesday, Oct. 28, that he had just learned of the license change and was looking into the possibility of unintended consequences from the legislation. State driving rules differ widely, and the roundup of new state driving laws from July shows how far one state line can change the rules for the same driver.

For drivers, the outcome decides whether a work permit alone gets a license. Until the hearing, the court order points one direction: accept the card. Other states are also reworking what their licenses carry, as with the Florida citizenship law for newly issued and renewed licenses. Drivers who hold a temporary license should check the date on it and keep the renewal paperwork ready, as the rules that apply on Nov. 17 depend on what Perkins decides on Nov. 16.

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